


Ruin & Resurrection

by eleanor_raines



Category: Bloodbound (Visual Novels)
Genre: Angst, Choices, Choices: Stories You Play - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Love, Rewrite, Romance, Supernatural - Freeform, Suspense, Vampires, adrian raines - Freeform, bloodbound
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:21:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28092318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eleanor_raines/pseuds/eleanor_raines
Summary: Chapter 1:Agnes has awakened as a vampire and her friends try to cope with her unexpected return.
Relationships: Adrian Raines/Main Character (Bloodbound)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to "Ruin & Resurrection"  
> This series picks up at the beginning of Bloodbound Book 3, Chapter 1.  
> A continuation of the "Grief/Doubt" Series, this fic covers the first 9 chapters of Bloodbound Book 3, with a darker tone and more severe consequences.

The darkness had never been more clear.

Agnes pulled herself from the mound of dirt that had formed around her grave as she clawed her way up through the earth, taking in the night around her. 

Nothing had changed. At least, not from what she could remember. But the world was so different to her now. The stars shone brightly from behind a blanket of clouds and smoke. The cacophony of sounds she was suddenly able to hear was overwhelming, a distant footfall sounding like a clap of thunder in her ears.

Her head started swimming as she breathed in deeply. The smells of the freshly turned earth beneath her, the smoke that lingered in the air, the wilting roses that littered the ground around her filled her head and made her dizzy. 

Agnes’s throat was burning and she was doubled over from the pain in her stomach as she struggled to stand, staggering away from her grave and out into the city.

Everything was chaos. Bodies littered the streets. Buildings burned as columns of black smoke climbed high into the night sky. She could feel her eyes stinging from the dense ash hanging in the air. All around her was death and destruction. Her heart began to fill with fear as she wandered the streets of New York, looking for someone - anyone - who could help her.

Agnes could barely think straight between the sounds of screams echoing down the streets and the smell of charred flesh and bone flooding her senses. It was too much to take in, too much for her to handle alone. She wanted to call out for him. She wanted to call out his name and have him come running for her, to rescue her from this horrible place. 

But there was only fire and blood and darkness. Her body felt weak as she continued to trudge down the empty streets, shattered glass crunching beneath her feet, streetlights flickering above her head. Her throat was still burning, and the ache of hunger in her stomach grew stronger. 

It was hopeless. 

It wasn’t even worth the effort to walk anymore. There was nothing. Just the destruction Gaius left in his wake. Agnes braced herself against a brick wall, concealed in an alley, and slowly lowered herself to the ground. She was exhausted and scared and hungry and confused and there wasn’t any point in pushing forward. She leaned her head back against the wall, looking up at the night sky, wondering if it would be the last thing she ever saw, when she noticed it.

Fresh blood. 

The smell was overpowering and intoxicating. Any weakness she felt was replaced with a predatory instinct that surged through her body like electricity.

She needed it. 

Agnes pulled herself off the ground, her eyes searching the streets for the source, following the scent like an animal as it hunts its prey. Her footsteps quickened until she was practically sprinting. Her teeth were bared and her eyes were blood red. She was desperate. It was a kind of desperation Agnes had never known before. 

This hunger was all consuming. It occupied every fiber of her being, every tendon, muscle, and tissue. With each step, the scent became more powerful. She was getting close. 

Agnes knew she had found her quarry as she stalked through Central Park and heard the small, weak whimpers of a wounded woman. Agnes remained concealed behind a bush as she watched and waited. The woman was immobile. _Good._ Her blood, hot and thick, was spilling out from a large gash on her leg. _Even better._

Agnes licked her lips, ready to dig into what was sure to be a delicious feast. Running faster than she realized was even possible, Agnes charged at the woman. 

“No, please! NO!” the woman screamed, as she feebly tried to protect herself and crawl away.

Agnes lunged forward, mouth agape, ready to take every last drop of blood from this woman’s body, when a pair of arms circled around her from behind and tackled her to the ground, pinning her there. She growled in anger as she thrashed against the arms around her, furious at whoever dared interrupt her meal.

“You! Get out of here! Now!” 

At the sounds of her attacker’s voice, the predatory spell that had fallen over Agnes began to fade. It was a familiar voice. A voice she trusted. She began to relax and, though hunger still gnawed at her stomach, she no longer felt the need to attack.

She was suddenly overcome with exhaustion, her effort to feed having sapped the last few ounces of energy that were left in her body. She could feel her limbs going limp as she struggled to stay conscious. 

“Agnes?” 

She recognized the voice. She knew him.

“Jax?” she whispered, though she was not awake long enough to hear his reply.

\--

“Agnes?!”

Jax couldn’t believe it.

He had gone out looking for rogue Ferals wandering the streets of New York City who may be wreaking havoc. Agnes’s death had been hard on them all, and Jax found that the best way for him to cope was to break some heads. 

He had never expected to find this. 

Jax looked down at Agnes, now unconscious on the ground beneath him. She was alive. But how? 

He stared at her in shock. She was still wearing her burial outfit, and her skin and clothes were streaked with dirt and soot. He reached down and touched her cheek. It was soft and warm, and he watched as her chest rose and fell with each breath. Jax felt tears starting to form in his eyes as stared at her. 

She was back. 

He quickly gathered her in his arms, still gazing at her in utter disbelief, as he carried her to Kamilah’s penthouse.

__

“I always hate when he does this,” Lily said miserably as she tried to distract herself with a video game on Kamilah’s television. She threw the controller down in defeat.

“He just needs to blow off some steam,” Kamilah said, trying to remain reasonable, as she gazed out the window over the ruins of New York. 

“Can he do that without risking his life, maybe?” Lily replied.

Kamilah opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a loud banging on the door to her penthouse. Lily stood up with a start and they both stared at the door, exchanging a brief look of alarm. 

There was more pounding at the door and they heard Jax on the other side.

“Let me in! Hurry!” he shouted. There was an urgency to his tone and Kamilah quickly strode across the room, with Lily not far behind.

Kamilah swung the door open but froze in shock at the sight that greeted her. Lily’s hands flew to her mouth, tears already forming from her eyes.

Jax pushed past them, being careful so as not to bump Agnes’s head against the door jamb, and strode into the penthouse. He lay Agnes down on the couch gently, propping her head up with a pillow. 

“What’s going on?” Kamilah asked, wary of what was she was seeing.

“I just found her,” Jax explained, as the three formed a small circle by the couch, everyone keeping at least one eye on Agnes. 

“I heard a woman crying for help in Central Park, and I thought it was Feral attacking someone so I followed the sound and . . .” Jax didn’t finish his sentence, only gesturing to Agnes. 

“She attacked someone!?” Lily said in shock. She couldn’t imagine her kind-hearted friend attacked a wounded human, but then again, Agnes wasn't the same as she was before.

Kamilah nodded thoughtfully, “That’s a good sign.”

“I’m sorry?” Lily said incredulously.

Kamilah looked at them pointedly, “New vampires always wake up with bloodlust.” “And?” Jax said, just as confused as Lily. 

“ _And_ , given that she was gone for three days, it’s good to see that she is behaving like a normal newly transformed vampire.”

“What are you saying? You think something else could’ve brought Agnes back,” Jax said with a scowl, starting to feel defensive. 

“No,” Kamilah responded coolly, “I’m actually saying the opposite. I’d be more concerned if she woke up and felt completely fine. Not that I want to see her suffer, but this suffering is a good thing. It means that the transformation worked.”

Lily and Jax remembered their transformations. It was an uncomfortable and painful process, learning to handle their new instincts and heightened senses. Lily cringed as she thought of her first feeding, and ultimately, Kamilah’s point was made.

“What do we do now?” Lily asked.

No one was really sure. They all lingered around the couch where Agnes lay, anxiously waiting for her to wake up. 

The clock read 2:03am. Kamilah heard her phone buzzing on the counter, but couldn’t be bothered to pick up. She could only think of Agnes and her unprecedented return. And what it could mean for her. For all of them.

She and Lily and Jax exchanged nervous glances as they waited for Agnes to wake. 

“Has anything like this ever happened before?” Jax asked, breaking the tense silence.

“Not to my knowledge,” Kamilah replied, “I’ve never known a transformation to take this long before.”

“So, was Agnes not dead when we buried her?” Lily asked.

“That is hard to say,” Kamilah said with a sigh, “She _was_ dead. She wasn’t responding. She did not display any signs of human life or indications that the Turning process had begun.”

“Then how . . .?” Jax asked, more to himself than to the room.

“I’m going to get a blood pack for her when she wakes up,” Kamilah announced, “She likely won’t have the strength to feed.”

“But those are so gross,” Lily said with a frown. 

“It’s better than nothing at this point,” Kamilah replied, apathetic to Lily’s objection, “And I don’t think she’ll know the difference.”

Kamilah turned to leave and disappeared down the hall of her sprawling penthouse.

Jax heaved a sigh as he raked his hand through his hair. 

“This is not what I was expecting to happen tonight.”

Lily snorted, “Yeah, no shit.”

Jax rolled his eyes, “You know what I mean.”

The phone on the counter lit up and buzzed again, but went unanswered.

A silence settled over them as they finally took a moment to let the events of the night fully sink in. 

“I can’t believe she’s back,” Lily said, “I never thought I’d see her again.”

“Me neither,” he replied.

He paused for a moment before speaking again, his voice trembling, “I’ve never . . . I’ve never gotten back anything that I’ve lost before. It just stayed lost. What if this is all too good to be true?”

Lily moved to Jax’s side and rubbed his back comfortingly, “Remember what Kamilah said? Besides, we won’t really know anything until she wakes up. So for now, let’s just be happy that she’s here.”

Jax nodded as he took in a shuddering breath. Moments later, Kamilah returned with two blood packs in one hand, and a silver goblet in the other, placing them on the coffee table.

The three gazed down at Agnes, each consumed with their own worries and fears about their dear friend as she lay there before them in an unknown state. 

Time seemed to crawl, the buzzing of the phone on the counter punctuating their anxious silence. They were starting to wonder if she would ever wake up, when, at last, Lily saw Agnes’s eyelashes begin to flutter open.

The three rushed to her side as she came to. 

\--

The first thing Agnes felt when she woke was pain. Her head was throbbing, her stomach was tight with hunger, her bones were aching with exhaustion.

Her eyes fluttered open and as her vision came back into focus, she saw three familiar faces hovering over her. She blinked a few times, but it was indeed Kamilah, Lily and Jax.

“My head is killing me,” she said, her voice dry and raspy. At her words, the three of them released a long held sigh of relief, and Jax got to work emptying the blood packs into the silver goblet.

The phone buzzed again. 

Lily and Kamilah helped ease Agnes into an upright position. Jax offered the goblet to Agnes.

Agnes took the goblet from him and looked down at the cold, dark blood inside.

“Is this from a blood pack?” she asked, unable to hide the disappointment in her voice.

“See!” Lily said with a sharp look at Kamilah, “I told you.”

“I’m sorry it’s not fresh, Agnes, but we weren’t sure when you would wake up. You should drink,” Kamilah said. Agnes brought the goblet to her lips and opened her mouth, letting the viscous fluid slide down her throat. 

At first, it was truly disgusting but the more she drank, the better she felt. Her hunger faded and she felt strength rush back into her body as she consumed the life-giving blood.

To her surprise, she drank the entire goblet.

“Good girl,” Kamilah said with a small smile, patting Agnes affectionately on the shoulder. Her friends watched her with shining eyes, overcome with gratitude to see her sitting there before them. 

Agnes wanted to feel as grateful as they did, but the reality was still settling in for her. She wasn’t the same.

“So,” Agnes said, trying to conceal the conflicted emotions she felt as she looked down at the empty container in her hands, “I really am a vampire.”

“Oh, Agnes,” Lily exclaimed as she flung her arms around her friend, “I know. It’s so scary waking up and being completely different. But I’m here for you. We all are.”

“You shouldn’t have had to wake up like that, Agnes,” Jax said, “I’m sorry I tackled you.”

Agnes smiled and, with a small laugh, said, “No, that was the right thing to do.”

She gazed upon her friends as they looked back at her with easy smiles of relief and happiness. But one of them was missing.

“Where’s Adrian?” Agnes asked. 

Jax, Kamilah, and Lily exchanged a meaningful look that made Agnes nervous.

“Is he alright?” she asked, her voice rising in alarm, “Why isn’t he here?”

Agnes stood up with a start. Kamilah and Lily each placed a reassuring hand on her shoulders and tried to calm her.

“Adrian is alive,” Kamilah reassured her, “But he took your death very hard, Agnes. It’s . . . taken a toll on him.”

There was a loaded pause, “He’s alive but I would not say he’s well.” 

“Call him. Right now,” Agnes demanded, a hard scowl on her face, “You have to tell him what happened. ”

Kamilah nodded and walked over to her phone on the kitchen counter. Nine missed calls. All from Adrian.

She looked at the time.

**2:27**

Kamilah turned to face them, a helpless look on her face, “There’s a good chance he already knows.”

For the second time that night, there was a loud banging at the door to Kamilah’s penthouse.

The four were startled by the sound and jumped as they turned to face the entryway.

Through the door, they heard a voice. His voice. 

“Kamilah!” Adrian’s voice was harsh and ragged with rage, “Let me in NOW!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agnes and Adrian are reunited after her unexpected return.  
> Word Count: 3675  
> This will be the last chapter of 2020! Thanks for reading along!

Adrian visited Agnes every night at 2:00am.

He hadn’t been able to bring himself to do much of anything in the days following her death. He mostly sat in his office, reading old texts and emails from Agnes over and over again, drinking himself into a stupor until he was so tired he fell asleep in his chair. 

The only thing he did was bring Agnes roses every night at 2:00am. Roses weren’t easy to find in a ruined city, and most of them were already wilting, but he brought them all the same. 

This particular night was dark, and the air was heavy with smoke. The gravel of the path crunched beneath his feet as he walked along the path to Agnes’s burial site. He looked a miserable sight as he trudged past the tombstones and mausoleums to pay his respects and be close to the woman he loved in the only way he knew how.

As he approached her grave, he began to sense something was amiss. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and his body tensed. Adrian walked faster through the smoke and fog until he came across a sight that made his blood run cold.

Someone had disturbed Agnes’s grave.

The dirt where she had been buried had been pushed aside haphazardly, the wooden lid of her coffin splintered open. Agnes was gone.

Adrian was frozen in shock. She wasn’t there. He was hit with a wave of panic and his heart started thundering in his ears. Panic gave way to rage and Adrian dropped the bouquet of roses on the ground, turned on his heel, and strode out of the cemetery with murder on his mind. 

Whoever had taken her would pay with their life, of that much he was sure. 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, hands shaking, and called Kamilah. 

The phone rang . . . and rang. 

Adrian shoved the device back into his pocket forcefully and continued on, cursing Kamilah under his breath. He moved forward with determination, his eyes blazing red. Yet, despite the fury that fueled him, he felt gripped with fear. She was gone and he had no idea where she was. 

It was a new kind of torment, to be separated from her and not even know where to find her. She was completely lost to him and it was more than he could bear.

He ran through the apocalyptic streets, not really sure what he was hoping to find, but unwilling to relent as he searched alleys and abandoned buildings for any sign that someone had been there or seen something. 

Adrian pulled out his phone and called Kamilah again. No answer.

He dialed again. Once again it went to voicemail and he bit his lip to hold back a sob. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He stared at the phone, willing her to call him back, but the screen remained dark. 

Tears started to gather in his eyes as he realized that once again, he had failed Agnes. Even in death, he could not protect her, he couldn’t save her. She was more lost to him now than ever before and he had no one to blame but himself. He had brought her into his world and, ultimately, to her ruin. 

He looked around helplessly as he began to silently weep. He tried calling Kamilah again.

“Answer your phone,” he whispered pleadingly, his throat burning from the ash in the air. Nothing. 

“Please.” No answer. 

His guilt faded and was soon replaced with roiling anger - at whatever monster took Agnes, at Kamilah for abandoning him when he needed her most, at himself for allowing this to happen. 

Adrian’s world was falling down around him, but he could not stop. He had to find her. He inhaled sharply, hesitating for a moment, but pressed his thumb to the green button on the screen and brought the phone to his ear. 

No answer. 

“Fine,” Adrian said, setting his jaw and squaring his shoulders. 

He took off down the street, moving quickly across the Manhattan grid to Kamilah’s penthouse. If she wouldn’t answer his calls, then maybe she would answer her door. 

Even though he did not expect an answer, Adrian continued hanging up and redialing as soon as the call went to voicemail. It was mostly to keep his mind occupied until he was able to get the answers he was seeking. 

It didn’t take long for Adrian to reach Kamilah’s building, driven forward by desperation and anger. Looking up from across the street, he saw light streaming through the windows of the top floor. She was home.

Adrian’s eyes were fixed on the penthouse high above him, his brow furrowed. He was terrified and outraged all at once. He pulled out his phone and called her again. Once again, it went unanswered. 

There was nothing left to do but go up and talk to her himself, since she had left him no choice. He forcefully shouldered the door to the stairwell open, denting the painted white metal as it slammed into the wall. With each step his outrage grew at her inconsiderate behavior. She knew how fragile he had been, she had promised that she would be there for him, and now, she had left him utterly alone in his hour of need. 

There were too many thoughts running through his mind, waves of volatile and conflicting emotions washing over him as he took steps two or three at a time. By the time he reached the door to the penthouse, all rationalization had left him. Driven by only his desire for retribution, he raised his fist and pounded on the door. 

“Kamilah!” he shouted, his voice harsh to mask his growing despair, “Let me in NOW!”

There was silence on the other side of the door. His blood started to boil when he heard the click of the lock, but the door remained closed. She was hesitating. 

Compounding his agitation, Adrian seethed and when Kamilah finally opened the door he was too entrenched in his own wrath to see the expression of uncertainty on her face. He pushed his way past her into the penthouse.

“Why didn’t you answer any of my—”

Adrian stopped dead in his tracks when he stepped into the spacious living room, stunned by what he saw. It couldn’t be real. Now he was sure that losing Agnes had broken him completely and his mind was playing a cruel trick, for he was certain he saw her standing before him in Kamilah’s penthouse. 

He didn’t want to believe it at first. If he allowed himself to hope, it would be all the more crushing when he would inevitably wake from this delirious dream. How many times had he imagined this as he sat drunk and desolate in his darkened office, dreaming that she would walk back into his life, that he would open the door and see her there waiting for him. 

And she was there. Right there in front him. Lily’s hand was on her shoulder, and Jax stood solidly beside her, his face cautious and protective. It wasn’t an illusion. It wasn’t a dream. She was admittedly a pitiful sight, with pronounced dark circles under her eyes and her hair and clothes streaked with dirt. But to see her there, so perfectly imperfect, eyes shining with hope and adoration as she gazed at him, was all Adrian needed to know that this was no dream. 

“Agnes?” he asked tentatively, his voice shaking.

She smiled at him, eyes brimming with tears, and nodded.

Adrian closed the distance between them, his body colliding with hers as he threw his arms around her. He held her close, cradling the back of her head in his hand, tangling his fingers in her dirt-encrusted hair. Feeling the warmth of her body against his, her arms tightening around him as she pulled him deeper into her embrace, began to heal his wounded heart. 

Kamilah, Lily, and Jax quietly left the room, though neither Adrian nor Agnes noticed, too lost in each other to think of anything or anyone else.

Reluctantly, they pulled away from each other’s embrace, and Adrian held Agnes’s face tenderly, hands trembling as he gazed deep into her eyes. 

His brow furrowed in concern as he took her in. 

“Are you alright?” he asked, stroking her cheek gently, “Are you in any pain? What happened? What do you need?”

She smiled sweetly, tears escaping the corners of her eyes as she looked up at him with more love than he felt he deserved. 

“I’m alright, I promise,” she replied, holding his hand as she leaned into his touch. At the sound of her voice, his knees nearly buckled beneath him. His heart ached as he looked down at her, bringing his forehead to rest against hers. 

“Agnes,” he said, his voice breathless with anticipation, “I love you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I love you. I love you so much. I’m so sor—”

He could not finish his sentence as Agnes brought her lips to his in a searing kiss. A rush of what could only be described as bliss ran through Adrian’s body at her touch. He returned the kiss with equal intensity, taking her mouth greedily. He held her close, pressing her body against his as if willing them to become one. Agnes sighed happily and her lips moved slow and heavy against his, soft and inviting, and he couldn’t help the small moan that escaped his mouth when she tugged his bottom lip between her teeth.

Adrian’s eyes remained closed as she slowly pulled away, pressing a soft, sensual kiss against his lips that sent shivers down his spine. He opened his eyes as she brushed her nose against his affectionately. 

“I love you, too,” Agnes said, her voice thick with emotion, “So much.” 

A smile broke across his face at her words, joyous tears starting to spill from his eyes. She wiped them away, her eyes searching his face, her brow furrowing as she looked at his gaunt appearance. He saw the unfathomable sadness in her eyes as she realized what losing her had done to him. 

“I know that face” Adrian said with a knowing look, taking the hand that was gently cradling his face between his own, “And you are not supposed to worry about me right now. Tonight, I am worrying about you.” 

Agnes pouted, her eyes still brimming with concern for him. 

“Can you worry about me at home?” she asked. 

Adrian’s heart swelled at her words. Home. At last, he could bring her home. Their home.

Adrian nodded as an affectionate smile spread across his face. She looked up at him earnestly, her eyes tired but shining with joy and love for him. 

Kamilah, Jax, and Lily came back into the living room, and Adrian announced he would be taking Agnes back to his penthouse. They were relieved to hear it and they wished Agnes well as she and Adrian left Kamilah’s penthouse and headed out for their own private refuge. 

Once they had arrived, Agnes’s shoulders slumped and Adrian could see the act that Agnes had been putting on begin to dissolve as she trudged further into the penthouse. Struck with worry at the sudden shift, he rushed to her side, wrapping his arm around her waist to support her.

“I’ve got you,” Adrian said, his voice tight with concern.

“I know,” she said quietly, her soft gaze lulling him into a feeling of security and peace, “You always do.”

There was nothing more that Adrian wanted than to be there with and be there for Agnes, no matter what, since the day he had met her. Holding in her arms, to have her look at him with such trust and care, filled him with a sense of purpose and wholeness that he didn’t think he was even capable of feeling. 

“How does a hot shower sound?” Adrian asked with a smile, stroking Agnes’s grimy cheek.

“Heavenly,” Agnes said, closing her eyes with a sigh, leaning into his touch. Before she could object, Adrian scooped Agnes into his arms and walked her down the hall of the penthouse to the master suite. 

Agnes couldn’t suppress her delighted giggle as he picked her up and he saw her cheeks blush an enticing shade of pink as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Adrian couldn’t hide his smile as he pressed a tender kiss to the soft skin of her temple.

Adrian placed Agnes on the ground once they entered the large, marble tiled bathroom. He turned the faucet handle, placing his hand in the stream of water to test the heat. Soon, the bathroom was filled with steam and Agnes began to disrobe. 

“I’ll leave some clean clothes on the bed,” he said, eyes fixated on her as she pulled her shirt over her head, “Are you hungry?”

“Starving,” she said emphatically, clutching her stomach for dramatic effect.

Adrian chuckled at her theatrics, “I’ll have something ready for you. Enjoy your shower.”

“Oh, I will,” she said with a laugh, before stepping out of the last of her clothes and into the shower.

Adrian made his way to the kitchen to prepare a meal for them both. His hands no longer shaking, Adrian made quick work of a simple, but decadent fettuccine alfredo. 

Even though he could hear the shower running from down the hall, and saw her shoes discarded by the entry, he couldn’t quite shake the fear that this was all a dream. 

It seemed too unreal to be standing in his kitchen cooking a meal for Agnes, waiting for her to so they could sit and eat together. He could think back to dozens of Saturday nights passed just like this, when he cooked for Agnes as she got ready for a cozy evening in. For this to happen now - as the world burned around them - was surreal. 

He heard the water shut off as he made the final touches on their dinner. She emerged a few minutes later, her hair still damp, looking cozy and warm in the sweatpants and shirt that he had laid out for her. 

“That smells so good,” she said with a moan as entered the kitchen, seating herself on one of the stools around the kitchen island, eagerly awaiting the feast he had prepared. His chest tightened as he recalled his earlier resignation that he would never again see her sitting before him, looking earnestly into his eyes, with a smile on her face that made his knees weak. 

And yet, there she was.

Adrian took a plate from the kitchen cabinet and loaded Agnes’s plate with the creamy pasta dish and placed it before her, handing her a fork. Agnes dug into the food with enthusiasm. As she took her first bite, her eyes rolled into the back of her head in ecstasy. Adrian was beaming, his doubts and fears dissolving as she shoveled more food into her mouth. 

He served himself a small portion and sat next to her, slowly taking bites, watching Agnes intently as she scarfed down her food. She was adorable and ridiculous, and he swore to himself that he would cook for Agnes every night for the rest of time if it meant he could make her smile the way she was now. 

“How is it?” he asked.

“So good. Like, the best pasta I’ve ever had,” she said, swirling a heaping portion of the creamy pasta around her fork. Adrian couldn’t stop looking at her, completely rapt by her animated expressions and the way her presence transformed the room, filling it with life.

“What?” Agnes asked, realizing the intensity of his gaze, “Do I have food on my face?”

Adrian wasn’t aware he had been staring, only realizing that she did in fact have food on her face when she asked.

His mouth ticked up into a smile and took the cloth napkin from his lap, dabbing at the corner of her mouth, “Only a little.”

Agnes blushed bashfully and Adrian’s heart soared. To see blood and life coursing through her, to see her cheeks bloom with color, was enough to set his world straight again. 

“How are you feeling?” he asked, brushing her hair over her shoulder as she leaned in for another enormous bite. Agnes sat and thought for a few moments, chewing her food as she thought about her answer.

“Honestly?” she asked, placing the fork on the countertop.

Adrian nodded. 

“A little confused. And scared,” she said, her brow furrowing once again. Adrian cursed himself for asking. He didn’t want her to think of that right now. He would have plenty of time to tell her what happened and how she came to be. All he wanted in this moment, was for her to know that he would never leave her side.

Frankly, Adrian hadn’t yet come to terms with his own actions that night. He knew he had acted rashly and selfishly. He wasn’t thinking when he ripped open his wrist and pressed it to her lips. He could hardly think of that night without shame and horror. 

“Agnes, there is a lot to talk about,” Adrian said sadly, pushing his feelings of guilt aside, “And we will. But tonight, you need to rest. There will be time for that conversation later.”

Agnes nodded in agreement, absentmindedly picking up the last pieces of pasta on her plate with the tines of her fork.

“Can you answer one question?” she asked, her voice timid and quiet.

“Of course,” he said calmly, though he felt his throat tighten in anxiety.

There was a loaded pause. Agnes looked at Adrian, her eyes scrutinizing but soft in their sadness.

“Was it you?”

Adrian looked at Agnes a long time before replying.

“Yes.”

He was certain she would hate him for it but, much to his surprise, there was no anger or resentment in her gaze, but relief and acceptance. 

And exhaustion. Her eyelids were drooping and her earlier enthusiasm had faded into drowsiness.

“Are you finished?” he asked, gesturing to her plate. She nodded contentedly. He stood up and before she knew what he was doing, he had picked her up from her seat on the stool and was carrying her to the bedroom. 

“Ah! Stop doing that!” Agnes squealed, her arms reflexively tightening around his neck. 

Adrian brushed his nose against her cheek, pressing a soft kiss against her skin. 

“No,” he said with an affectionate smile, his voice low and rumbling in his chest as he carried her confidently down the hall. Once in the master suite, Adrian placed Agnes down next to the bed, taking her face in his hands, tenderly stroking her cheek with his thumb, savoring the feeling.

“I am here to take care of you, alright?” he said, his tone insistent but caring, “If you need anything, I expect you to tell me and not keep it to yourself.”

Agnes nodded, a grateful smile on her face as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Well, right now, I could really use some comfy pillows and a warm body to snuggle with.”

“I can definitely make that happen.”

He leaned over and pulled back the heavy comforter so Agnes could crawl in underneath. She lay down and heaved an enormous sigh as her head hit the soft pillows. Adrian walked to the other side of the bed and started removing his clothes until he was wearing only his boxers.

“Mmmm, come here,” Agnes purred as she looked up at him with sleepy eyes, still alight with adoration and desire.

Adrian flashed a smile as he got into bed. Agnes’s body was pressed against his in an instant. She tangled her legs with his under the covers, draping her arm across his waist as she nuzzled her head into his bare chest. Adrian’s arms encircled Agnes and he held her fast, resting his head against her soft hair, now smelling of lavender and rosemary. 

“How’s that?” he murmured against her hair.

“Perfect,” she replied, nestling herself closer to him.

“You should get some sleep,” he whispered soothingly. His words made Agnes suddenly pull back and look at him in shock.

“No! I don’t want to sleep,” she said, a pleading look in her eyes, “I want to stay awake with you. I don’t . . . I don’t want to spend any time away from you.”

Adrian practically melted at her words and the aching tenderness with which she spoke them. He knew exactly how she felt. 

“I promise I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here,” he tried to reassure her, but she shook her head.

“No, even being asleep is too far away,” she insisted. He couldn’t argue with that.

“Alright,” Adrian replied with a conciliatory smile, “If you won’t go to sleep, you have to agree to stay here in bed with me for 8 hours, doing nothing and resting.”

“Way ahead of you,” she said happily as she settled back into his embrace.

They stayed there for a moment, quiet and happy in each other’s arms. There was a blessed silence that settled over them. Not the lonely, hollow silence that had haunted Adrian for the last three days, but a silence so filled with safety and love that words were rendered unnecessary.

It didn’t take long for Agnes to fall asleep. He had started to rub her back in slow circles, pressing sweet kisses to the top of head until he felt her body completely relax against his, her breath coming in and out in a soft, steady rhythm. 

The world was in ruins, surrounded by death and destruction, but Adrian could think of none of that now. Holding Agnes in his arms and feeling the warmth underneath her skin was all he needed and that moment was more than enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Characters, plot, & dialogue are property of Pixelberry. I’m just having some fun.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agnes and Adrian enjoy blissful togetherness in his penthouse while the world burns around them. No longer able to hide from reality, Agnes prepares to face the world, reborn as a vampire.

_The room was dark, save for the cluster of candles burning on the steps leading up to Gaius’s granite throne. Gaius sat with one leg thrown casually over the armrest, lounging languidly while the figure still cloaked in shadow before him remained kneeling, head bowed in reverence._

_The dim, dancing light of the flickering candles cast terrifying shadows across Gaius’s face, and through the darkness, she could see a sinister smile on his lips, his fangs glistening in the candle light._

_“You found him, then?”_

_“Yes, my lord,” a familiar voice replied._

_“Good,” he spat out with disdain, “Take him out. Find his home and burn it.”_

_The figure bowed their head in response and stood, stiff and rigid like a soldier, broad shoulders squared as if ready for a fight. Only when they stood and turned their face towards the candlelight did Agnes see who it was._

_“Adrian?”_

_Agnes’s vision went black, her head swimming in a dense fog, until clarity broke through and she found herself outside, under a blanket of stars in an open clearing surrounded by trees._

_Before her was a small cabin nestled in the woods, orange light streaming from the windows and the smell of freshly cooked meat wafting through the air. It would’ve been a romantic and pastorally charming scene, were it not for the murderous vampire that watched them from a distance, bloodlust burning in his red eyes, fangs bared in the moonlight._

_Agnes’s stomach clenched as she realized what she was about to witness. Adrian had often spoken of his days as a soldier and butcher, but it had always been hard for Agnes to imagine the soft spoken, doting, and gentle man she knew and loved as someone capable of killing in cold blood._

_Her heart was pounding in her chest as Adrian began stalking towards the cabin, a determined look etched on his face, moving with inhuman speed. She wanted to call out to him, tell him to stop and remind him of who he really is, but all she could do was watch and wait. She tried to wake herself up, to spare herself from seeing a massacre, but Adrian stopped abruptly, disappearing into the shadows._

_The sound of a small child’s laughter broke through the cool night air. Tearing her gaze away from Adrian, Agnes looked over to the cabin and saw a man wearing simple clothes with a grizzled beard on his face. In his arms was a small boy - no more than six years old. The man was poking his son in the stomach, tickling him as his son’s laughter rang out into the isolated forest._

_Adrian was frozen in place. The harsh expression on his face had disappeared, his eyes now soft and stormy grey. Beneath the softness, Agnes could see a lingering sorrow. She could practically feel his heart aching as he watched the father and child, a look of longing on his face that Agnes had never seen before._

_Her heart broke to see him like this. It was everything that Gaius had taken from Adrian, and now he demanded that Adrian follow suit and tear apart another family. Adrian lowered his eyes, a tear escaping and sliding down his cheek, before taking one last look at the familial scene before him, and turned back into the forest, vanishing in the darkness._

–

Agnes slowly awoke from her dream, her eyes fluttering open to the safe familiar surroundings of the bedroom of Adrian’s penthouse. Adrian lay peacefully beside her, his arm draped over her waist, the weight of it heavy and comforting. In this quiet moment, his face was no longer creased with worry. For all the overwhelming joy they felt at being reunited, Adrian was still riddled with anxieties and fears and despite his best efforts, Agnes could see it written on his face. 

He had been diligently attentive to Agnes the last few days, making sure she wanted for nothing. She welcomed his attention, knowing that his diligence was not only for her, but a way for him to atone for his past mistakes and to show her how important to him she was. He felt purposeful, being her protector, and nothing calmed him more than knowing that Agnes was safe and well. 

Agnes reached out, her touch featherlight, and traced her fingertips along the smooth line of his jaw. He sighed happily, the corners of his mouth turning up in a contented smile. There was a beauty to his vulnerability, and her heart swelled as she thought of the man who was always so strong for others, finally being given the opportunity to rest and be whole again with her.

Sleep had escaped her for the day and not wanting to disturb his slumber, she extricated herself from his embrace and slid out of bed, tiptoeing out of the room. The penthouse was dark and quiet, the warmth and serenity enveloping her as she sat down on the sofa and stared out the large picture windows. The glass was still tinted from the evening light and Agnes watched as a red sun set over the charred remains of New York City.

As the glowing orb dipped below the horizon, Agnes realized she hadn’t really thought about what her life would be like as a vampire. She had spent most of the last few days resting, barely leaving the comfort of her bed. As such, there hadn’t been an opportunity to see the sun, and as someone used to keeping a nocturnal schedule, it was only now, as she caught a glimpse of the fading daylight, that it all really hit her.

She was a vampire. She would never see the sun again. She would never feel it warm her skin or see the way it lit up the world, sparkling on ocean waves or snow-capped peaks. Her world was now darkness, no longer by design, but out of necessity. 

Her life - her very existence - was a secret now. It would be impossible to explain to her family why, with each passing decade, she didn’t age or change. The thought of watching her family grow old and die while she remained was one she had not considered before. A shudder passed through her body as the true ramifications of her Turning fully settled in. 

It was hard to admit, but she was afraid of herself. She didn’t know what she was capable of. Agnes was still adjusting to her heightened senses and increased strength. There was something frightening to Agnes about not knowing her true nature, and right now, she barely knew if she could trust herself. 

Darkness had settled over the sky, a looming cloud of smoke hovering above the skyscrapers, casting a sickly yellow pallor across the city. Night had fallen and the vampire world was beginning to wake up.

Footfalls thundering down the hallway pulled Agnes from her thoughts and she turned to see Adrian, his eyes wide with alarm. He ran across the room and pulled Agnes into his arms, crushing her to his chest. 

“You scared me,” he said, whispering in her ear, his voice trembling, “Don’t do that.”

Agnes clung to him, and she could hear his heart pounding in his chest.

“I didn’t want to disturb you,” she murmured against his chest, savoring the warmth of his skin against her lips, “You were sleeping so peacefully.”

“You can always wake me, Agnes, no matter what,” he said, drawing back to cradle her face in his hands, a look of soft reassurance on his face, “You could never disturb me.”

Agnes tightened her grip around Adrian’s waist and she smiled up at him, a playful twinkle in her eye, “Maybe I wanted some time away from Adrian Raines.”

She could see the relief settle over him with her teasing remark, the tension visibly leaving his shoulders, as he lowered his head and pressed a brief, but passionate kiss to her lips.

“Do you really think I would believe that?” he said with a chuckle that rumbled deep in his chest. Agnes nuzzled her head into his chest, inhaling deeply and taking in the musky smell of his skin, that now, thanks to her vampire senses, was more intoxicating and heady than it had ever been before.

“No, I’ll never get enough of you,” Agnes replied contentedly, settling into his embrace as they looked out over the ruins of New York. 

“What woke you?” Adrian asked, his concern for her creeping back into his voice.

“I don’t know, really,” Agnes replied, “I thought it was a dream but …”

Agnes trailed off, unsure of how to continue. 

“What did you see?” Adrian asked as he began to stroke her hair, tucking a lock behind her ear as he waited patiently for her to continue.

“Do you remember a night a long time ago? Gaius had sent you to … take care of someone,” Agnes began her recollection and she felt Adrian’s muscles start to tense beneath her hands. He said nothing, but Agnes felt his distress in her heart. 

“You went to his home and … you saw he had a child. The man you were supposed to kill had a son. And you left. You left and let them both live,” Agnes concluded, surprised by the tears that were gathering in her throat.

Adrian released the breath he had been holding. She felt his arms constrict around her, all at once gentle and fiercely protective.

“If you had to see anything, I’m glad it was that,” he said, his voice heavy with sorrow and guilt, “I was not always so compassionate.”

“So that really did happen. What I saw wasn’t a dream, it was …”

“It was a vision. A memory from my past.”

“I’m sorry, Adrian, I didn’t mean to remind you of … him. Of that time in your life.”

Adrian stepped back from their embrace, holding Agnes’s hands firmly in his, “Never apologize for speaking the truth, Agnes. I am … not proud of my past, but I also cannot hide it or deny it.”

“You are a good person, Adrian. Even back then. You’ve always been good,” Agnes said, squeezing his hands. 

“Perhaps one day I can see it the way you do,” he replied with a rueful smile, “But for now, I will just have to do what I can to make up for it.”

“I know how you can start,” Agnes purred, biting her lip with a suggestive look in her eye. Adrian’s eye brows quirked up curiously.

“Oh, and how’s that?” 

“By making me some breakfast,” she said with a laugh as she sauntered over to the kitchen, looking teasingly over her shoulder. 

Adrian laughed and the sound made Agnes’s heart soar. 

“Alright, what will it be today? Something savory or sweet?”

“Mmmm, today I want something sweet,” Agnes replied, slipping back into his arms as he entered the kitchen. Wrapping her hand around the back of his neck, she brought his face to hers and took him in a fierce kiss. He opened his mouth and kissed her greedily, pressing Agnes against the kitchen counter as he plundered her mouth with his tongue, sighing happily against her lips. With a slight tug of her teeth on his lower lip, Agnes pulled away with a smug look on her face.

“And then for breakfast, I want something savory,” she said, licking her lips with satisfaction. 

“You are such a tease, Agnes.”

Adrian’s eyes were bright, shining with delight at seeing her and feeling her and tasting her, and Agnes felt a wave of relief wash over her. At last, he allowed himself to feel the happiness he had longed to ever since her return. 

-

The night was once again spent in each other’s company. Adrian was doing what he could to help Agnes acclimate to her new body and its needs. Even though Agnes’s first feeding experience was a little more eventful than she had hoped, she was already starting to feel comfortable knowing when she needed to feed and knowing when to stop. She was a fast learner who faced the changes of her new life and body boldly, and Adrian could not have been more proud. 

He never wanted her to feel ashamed of being a vampire, the way he had. Becoming a vampire hadn’t snuffed out Agnes’s goodness or compassion or capacity to love, and he would not hear anyone even insinuate that Agnes might not be the same wonderful person she always was. 

And they were happy. Despite whatever chaos reigned around them, Agnes and Adrian found a refuge, a haven of blissful togetherness. But the chaos could only be ignored for so long. 

Kamilah called a meeting in the Raines Corp conference room a few days after Agnes’s return. There wasn’t any point in pretending anymore, and even though Adrian insisted Agnes needn’t attend, it was time for her to face the world again and do what she could to fix it.

Once they had convened, Agnes suddenly felt very out of her element. Even Lily and Jax listened attentively when Moira Pembrooke, Secretary of Defense, explained their situation, nodding and exchanging worried glances. 

Agnes had only been gone a few days, but she had already missed so much. Not only was she the newest vampire, still unacquainted with her heightened senses and new abilities, but she was now realizing she had no idea of the reality outside of Adrian’s penthouse.

“I can give you 72 hours,” Moira’s stern voice came through the speakers, “But after that … I won’t be able to stop what’s coming.”

“72 hours is more than enough,” Adrian quickly replied, interjecting before Jax, who stood fuming in the corner, could lash out, “Thank you, Moira.”

The call cut out and silence settled over the conference room. The weight of their responsibility began to set in. Jax had begun pacing, and Agnes could feel the fury coming off of him in waves. Kamilah and Adrian exchanged meaningful looks, fraught with dread and uncertainty

Anxiety began to stir deep in Agnes’s stomach as she watched her friends process the news that New York City would be unless they were able to do something. And much to Agnes’s chagrin, she didn’t feel capable of doing very much. She didn’t trust her body or her instincts yet. 

“I will call for a meeting of the vampires in Central Park tomorrow night,” Adrian said, breaking the tense silence, as he began formulating a plan.

“We will restore the authority of the Vampire Council … ,” Adrian paused to look around the room, realizing that the only remaining Council members were already in the room, “Most of the vampires in the city are in hiding or protecting humans, so we will have to ensure that every vampire is accounted for and a part of a clan.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, though none of them felt particularly confident. The threat of an airstrike looming before them didn’t exactly inspire hope among them, but they had faced impossible situations before and had somehow managed to make it through to the other side. Mostly unscathed. 

Agnes had no doubt they could do it. But it was hard to forget what happened the last time she had faced the wrath of Gaius, and going out into a burning city to restore order in his wake made Agnes far more nervous that wanted to admit. 

“Agnes, you don’t have to go if you aren’t feeling ready,” Adrian said, walking over to Agnes and kneeling in front of her to meet her eyes. His reassuring words immediately set her heart at ease. 

If she was being honest with herself, she didn’t feel ready at all. Without any way of knowing what to expect, even if Kamilah and Adrian promised an uneventful gathering, Agnes couldn’t be sure how she would react to whatever happened out there. The fear in Adrian’s eyes as he looked up at her told her that he was readying himself for something to go wrong. He was bracing himself for battle, and she would not let him go into it alone, not without her.

“No, I’m definitely going with you,” Agnes said decisively. 

A look of uneasiness flashed across Adrian’s face, and Agnes could see him fighting the urge to protest. Even the mere threat of danger, even the idea of Agnes being put in harm’s way still made Adrian’s blood run cold and would fight to prevent it if it cost him his life. He wanted her to say she wasn’t ready. He wanted her to say she would wait in the penthouse for him. But that wasn’t going to happen.

“Agnes … ,” Adrian began, a pleading look in his eyes.

“Adrian, this is my fight, too,” she said, suddenly brimming with empowerment, her conviction lighting a fire in her blood, “New York City is my home. And if there is anyone who wants to wipe Gaius and any evidence of him off the face of the earth … it’s me.”

No one could argue with that.

“This certainly isn’t an ideal way to learn how to use your vampire abilities,” Kamilah said, her own voice tight with worry, as she looked to Adrian with a doubtful look on her face.

“What is the ideal way then?” Agnes asked in return. 

Kamilah was taken aback by Agnes’s retort, but realizing that Agnes had backed her into a corner, sighed in defeat. There was no good answer to that question. 

“Very well,” Adrian said, taking Agnes’s hands in his own as he stood, Agnes following suit. Adrian’s chest puffed out with pride. Agnes was as bold as she had ever been, and he knew better than to doubt her or try to argue with her once she had made up her mind.

“But, if you are coming with us, there is something important we need to do first,” Adrian continued

Agnes looked between her friends, her brow knit in confusion, “And what’s that?”

“It’s time for you to join a clan and receive your Brand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Characters, plot, & dialogue are property of Pixelberry. I’m just having some fun.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agnes has chosen to join Adrian’s clan and receives his brand.

Adrian could hardly stop himself from beaming at Agnes’ decision to join his clan. He had hoped that she would but would never dare presume anything. But hearing her announce that she would bind herself to him in blood forever send a thrill of exhilaration down his spine.

“I’m happy to welcome you to Clan Raines, Agnes.”

She returned his smile, bright and loving.

“I’m happy to be here.”

Adrian offered his hand to Agnes, practically vibrating with anticipation. She placed her hand in his, her grip firm with resolve and excitement.

They entered Adrian’s office and somehow, despite everything that had happened in the world, it looked exactly the same. The velvet curtains and plush carpet, the oiled wood desk and the lush tufted leather seat behind it were unchanged.

That first night in Adrian’s office, her new life had begun. Walking in on him with Nicole’s blood dripping from his fangs had radically altered the course of her life and now here she was again, at the outset of another drastically strange and extraordinary new life. 

Agnes watched as Adrian prepared the tattoo machine. His brows were furrowed, his eyes focused as he prepared to mark Agnes as one of his own. 

Branding the woman he loved as part of his clan was not a moment Adrian had ever thought about or imagined before. He had branded all of the vampires in his clan, welcomed them and served them as their leader as if it had been second nature. But holding the tattoo gun in his hand, for the first ever, he felt nervous. 

There was the anticipation of it that stirred deep in his stomach, the excitement of the significance of this new union between them. But there also stirred a strange anxiety, of the unprecedented nature of this situation. He had faced almost everything as a vampire before now, and had never expected to find himself here.

“Is something wrong?” Agnes asked, her brow creased with concern. 

“No,” Adrian replied with a soft, reassuring smile, “Not at all.”

Agnes raised a brow skeptically. Despite his gentle expression, she saw tumult behind his eyes. 

“Do you not want to do this?” she asked, only slightly concerned that maybe he had changed his mind about her joining his clan. There was something else going in his head, of that much she was sure. 

Adrian’s eyes filled with alarm. He closed the small distance between them and grasped her shoulders, his gaze insistent. 

“Of course I do, Agnes. Don’t ever think that,” he said in a rush, his eyes searching her face as his hands moved down her arms to clasp her hands in his, “It’s just . . .”

Agnes squeezed his hands comfortingly as he struggled to find words.

“I never thought something like this would happen to me,” he said at last, his voice breathless, “I never thought I would be standing before the woman I love . . . that I love more than anything in the world . . .”

He paused a moment and Agnes stepped into him, wrapping her arms securely around his waist, tethering him to her as she looked up at him with unshakable devotion.

“It’s something that I didn’t know that I’ve always wanted,” he said in little more than whisper as he lowered his forehead to touch hers, “But binding you to me in blood will be the greatest intimacy I’ve ever known.”

A shiver ran down Agnes’s spine. A delicious smile tugged at the corner of her lips, and she found herself craving that same intimacy with an urgency that could not go unheeded. Agnes leaned up on her toes to press a fierce and affectionate kiss to his lips, conveying the same need and longing she felt in the heat rising beneath his skin.

“I’m ready,” Agnes said, looking up at him with a confident smile on her face.

“Then let’s begin.”

Adrian ushered Agnes over to the leather armchair behind his desk. She sat down, watching as he cut the tip of his thumb open with his fang and let the blood drip into a small container, before dipping the needles of the tattoo gun inside, coating them in the thick red liquid. 

Agnes pulled her sleeve up over her shoulder, exposing the smooth plane of skin on her upper arm. Taking a deep breath, she nodded at him to proceed and Adrian began his work. 

Pain, as it turned out, was another vampire sense Agnes would have to become accustomed to. The spot on her skin where the needle struck her erupted with searing pain. She gasped, clenching her stomach tight to stop herself from pulling away. Adrian’s hand gripped her arm firmly and steadily, holding her in place. She found his strength calmed her. 

It wasn’t long before the pain quickly began to melt into pleasure, the feeling in her arm now a comfortable burn, a satisfying ache. 

As his blood became etched in her skin, Agnes began to feel Adrian’s emotions as if they were her own, their feelings of contentment and pleasure swirling blissfully together in her mind. His face was stoic as he remained focused on his task, but his heart was overwhelmed with love and gratitude and it surrounded Agnes like an intimate embrace. 

But, underneath his joy was an undeniable sadness. His heart was still wounded from her loss. Even though she had returned, he had not yet healed from the pain that he had endured when she died. He was still caught up in disbelief and his life of loss had him living with the fear that this could all be taken away again. 

Her heart began to ache for him, and yearned to promise that she would never leave his side again. With all her might, she wanted to banish that sorrow and fear and ease his wounded heart. She was suddenly overcome and she felt tears gather in the back of her throat.

Adrian finished the brand, wiping a sanitizing cloth over her freshly marked skin. He sat back and looked at it with a satisfied smile. 

“Perfect,” he murmured happily, examining his work with an approving eye. When he turned his gaze to look at her, his heart jumped to his throat. Her face was soft, but sad. There was nothing but love and awe in her eyes as she fixed her gaze on him, but her expression only spoke of wistful sorrow. 

He brought his hand to cradle her face, and she leaned into his touch. Adrian had to remind himself to be gentle with Agnes. Her return to him had in a way brought him back to life as well. He was joyous and elated and wanted to live his life as fully as possible with her, but she was not quite there yet. She needed more time. She needed him to be strong for her. 

“What’s wrong, my love?” he asked soothingly. 

“ _Oh, Adrian,_ ” Agnes whispered, her voice honeyed with longing, and wrapped her hand around the back of Adrian’s neck, pulling him to her for a bruising kiss. Adrian was surprised, but only for a moment, before his strong arms circled her waist and he held her fast against him. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip and she opened her mouth beneath his with a gasp.

One hand roamed up her back to tangle in her hair as she wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her toes, mouth pressed fervently against his. 

Adrian pulled back, his breath ragged, his eyes fixated on her swollen lips as he spoke.

“I’m yours, Agnes,” he said, his voice gravelly with emotion, “I’m completely yours.”

There was nothing that Agnes loved to hear more than those words. From him, it was no platitude or empty promise. Adrian had promised himself entirely to Agnes, and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that he meant it.

“You _are_ mine, Adrian Raines,” Agnes said, gripping his shirt front in her fists, “ _All mine_.”

__

Adrian and Agnes returned to the penthouse. Kamilah called to confirm the meeting of the rest of the New York City vampires in Central Park the following night. It was nearly dawn, and with little else to do but sit and wait, Adrian insisted they get some rest. 

It didn’t take much convincing and Agnes happily crawled into bed beside him, nestling against him as she easily drifted off to sleep. 

But no rest awaited Agnes in her dreams.

_In the darkness she heard sobbing, guttural and raw, screams of pure devastation filling the emptiness. It echoed around her, filling her head, and she realized that the one crying out in agony was Adrian._

_She felt pain lance through her body starting at her abdomen, she opened her eyes. She looked up and saw that she was in Adrian’s arms. Hot tears began to spill from her eyes as she heard his desperate plea._

_“I’ll do anything, please, just give her back. Let me have her back. Don’t take her from me, please.”_

_She felt his heaving sobs against her chest as he held her tight, begging for someone to bring her back. She wanted to speak, to tell him that it was alright, that she would be back, that he doesn’t have to hurt or be afraid._

_But his sobs continued to echo around her as her vision faded to black._

_She opened her eyes and found herself in another familiar place. Laying in the sarcophagus in the Turning chamber, Agnes looked up at her friends as they wept. Adrian’s face was white, his shoulders fallen, with a look of desperate hopefulness on his face as Kamilah wrapped her arm around his shoulder comfortingly._

_They closed the lid and her dream went dark again. She waited for the next scene, the next vision but I’m her dream remained dark. There was no light. The air was close and stale. She knew exactly where she was.She was back in her coffin._

_Agnes’s heart started pounding as she tried to claw her way out but, no matter how hard she hit or kicked, the wooden box around her would not break. She felt a scream rising in her throat and she cried out . . ._

“HELP! PLEASE!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Characters, plot, & dialogue are property of Pixelberry. I’m just having some fun.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Agnes learns the truth of her transformation, and comes face to face with her newfound powers, with bloody consequences.

Agnes shot up in bed with a start, hyperventilating with tears streaming down her face. It was only a moment before she felt Adrian’s strong arms pull her into his protective embrace.

“You’re alright, Agnes,” he said, stroking her hair with shaking hands, “You’re safe. I’m here. I’ve got you.”

Agnes clung to Adrian as her tears began to subside and soon her heart was no longer thundering in her chest. Adrian touched Agnes with gentle hands as he brushed her matted hair out of her face, tenderly stroking her cheek as he eased her into his steady breathing pattern.

“Adrian,” Agnes said, still breathless as her panic faded, “Please. What happened that night? Tell me what happened.”

Adrian sat stunned for a moment, unable to speak, only able to look at Agnes with uncertainty in his eyes. She didn’t need to say what she meant. He knew exactly what she wanted, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to give that to her. Not yet.

“Agnes … ,” he began, hoping he could convince her otherwise. He had been successful in evading conversations about what happened that night thus far, but he stalled long enough and she wanted to know. She deserved to know. 

“Please, Adrian,” she whispered as tears started to gather in her eyes, “I’m scared. I don’t know what happened to me.”

Adrian was struck with guilt. He had been living in his own fear that Agnes would reject him if she knew the truth of how she came to be. He had been consumed with shame since he had impulsively poured his blood down her throat, and had been avoiding that fact, hoping that her return would somehow erase his own foolishness that night. 

But Agnes was right. There was a blank space in her life, a gap, a void where something happened that changed the course of her existence for literally the rest of time, she still knew nothing about it. It wasn’t fair and there was only one thing to do. Adrian clasped Agnes’s hand in his and took a deep breath.

“Moments after you died, Agnes, I lost myself and not in the way I have before. I’ve never lost myself like this. I thought only of myself and not of you. But it hurt, Agnes. It hurt so much. I was in more pain than I had ever felt in all my centuries on this earth.”

“Gaius took you from me and I couldn’t bear to lose another thing to him. I’m not saying I’m proud of what I did Agnes, but on the floor in the Met I … pulled the sword from your body and had you drink my blood. It was the only thing I could think of and I just couldn’t let you go. I couldn’t let you go without trying. But that wasn’t my decision to make.”

“I had started something that I had no choice but to finish. We rushed you to the Turning chamber, and Kamilah performed the rituals. But after six hours, you still hadn’t woken up. You were dead.”

“I didn’t want to bury you. It wasn’t rational and I didn’t think you were going to come back, but I couldn’t. It was unbearable to think that I had to keep you somewhere where I couldn’t see you every day.”

“And then learning you woke up, buried underground in a coffin. I have wronged you so many ways Agnes. I robbed you of your right to choose this transformation for yourself. I didn’t want you to know because I thought … I thought you would hate me for it. I’m sorry, Agnes, for doing this to you.”

Adrian didn’t realize how tightly he had been holding Agnes’s hand until he at last mustered the courage to glance up at her. To his shock and relief, there was nothing in Agnes’s face that read of betrayal, hatred, or hurt. 

“Do you regret it?” she asked, looking at him with kindness and understanding, “Would you do it again?”

Adrian felt a pang of guilt. He knew his answer and he was strong in his conviction, but he still hesitated to answer. It hurt him to say, for it was selfish and reckless.

“No, I don’t regret it,” he said as his voice trembled, “I would always make that choice.”

He couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes, fixing his gaze back on their joined hands. He expected her to pull away and he held a little tighter. Even now, he would not blame her for walking away. After his actions that night, he wasn’t sure if he deserved her forgiveness. 

Adrian took in a deep breath, readying himself for her reaction. He would prostrate himself before her if it came to it. He had been selfish. He had been thinking of only himself that night. Whatever hate or resentment or hurt that he had caused, he was ready to take responsibility. But his words were true. He would do anything to keep her with him, as long as she wanted him. 

He lifted his face to speak, but his words were cut off as Agnes pressed a loving, longing kiss to his lips, and all the doubt and fear left Adrian’s body in a rush. 

“You aren’t angry with me?” he asked. He knew the answer already. He had felt her gratitude and acceptance and desire for him in her kiss, but to hear the words from her lips would finally set his heart as ease.

“Of course not. If you don’t regret, then I don’t either,” Agnes said, bringing her hand up to stroke his face tenderly, “I am happy you did what you did. I wasn’t ready to leave you.”

Overcome, Adrian pulled Agnes into his arms, crushing her against his chest as a solitary tear slipped down his cheek. In that moment, he had finally found peace. She did not regret his choice, and he could not regret it as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her warm body into his, the sweet smell of her skin filling his head. He wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Adrian pulled back to look at her face, in awe of the beauty and grace that she possessed. She had chosen him in every way, and there would never be enough time to show her the depth of his love for her. For Adrian, it was never a matter of choice. He had walked into that conference room expecting to find a competent administrator and instead found the path to his future.

“I love you, Agnes.”

“I love you, too.”

His tumultuous heart had finally found a moment of tranquility. Their minds once more at ease, they lay back down, Agnes resting her head on his chest as they both drifted back to sleep.

–

Agnes and Adrian met with Kamilah, Jax and Lily at Central Park. There was already a crowd forming, a group of dismal looking vampires. Their faces were wan and their bodies moved wearily as they gathered to find some semblance of hope for their future. 

Adrian stepped onto the dais and a hush fell over the crowd. Agnes stepped back, concealing herself in the shadows, feeling suddenly self-conscious. Despite being a vampire, no longer a mortal outsider, she felt out of place standing out there among the weak and wounded. She hadn’t faced the same miseries they had, living safely in the comfort of Adrian’s penthouse. It was unfair, and she had been living in blissful ignorance.

“Thank you all for coming. We know you are eager to know more about what’s happening and how we can progress from here,” Adrian announced from the podium, his voice rang out loud and clear through the smoky night air. 

“Gaius’s attack was devastating. He’s left us with nothing but a ruined legacy to clean up, the aftermath of his storm. I wish I had better news, but the truth is that the Secretary of Defense is only giving us 48 hours to restore order here in New York.”

Adrian spoke like a leader, but even his confidence and composure was not enough to reassure the crowd. Dissatisfied murmurs spread through the audience. Agnes’s heart was suddenly gripped with fear. The attitude of the crowd was shifting, and not in Adrian’s favor. 

“I know,” Adrian continued, “I know it’s not much time, but it’s all we have. We will need to work together to ensure that the chaos can finally end, that we can still have a future. We can work to ensure a better–”

Adrian was cut off by a raspy, booming voice, “Ha! Future my ass.”

“Excuse me?”

From the crowd emerged a hulking vampire, all manner weapons draped across his chest and back, wearing an animal skull as a mask. The other vampires hurriedly moved out of his way as he walked up to the dais with heavy footsteps.

“What makes you so qualified to lead us?” he shouted, his voice threatening.

Despite Adrian’s best efforts to explain, the burly vampire refused to hear anything else Adrian had to say. He railed against the Council, spouting vitriol and violence as he began to rally the crowd around him. 

“Who are you?” Adrian demanded, his eyes narrowing threateningly.

“Name’s Bishop. I am the leader of the Unchained. We serve no clans, no council, no kings. The Unchained follow only one rule … chaos reigns.”

Much to their horror, some of the vampires began to cheer, enthusiastically shouting their support. Adrian turned and looked at his companions, alarm written across his face. Kamilah had no patience for such impertinence and she stepped forward, her arms crossed, looking at Bishop as if he were little more than an ant.

“What exactly do you mean to accomplish with this little tantrum? Are you rejecting the Council’s authority?” she said bitterly. 

Bishop laughed darkly, taunting Kamilah for her naivete.

“Oh, I’m doing much more than that,” Bishop said as he raised his fist in the air. From the foliage around them jumped out over a dozen vampires. They wore similar attire to their leader with grotesque masks hiding their faces. 

Bishop’s followers surrounded the dais, their crossbows fixed on Adrian, Jax, and Kamilah. Agnes’s stomach dropped and she could hear the thundering heartbeat of her friends as they waited for the Unchained to make their next move.

“I’m not rejecting the Council,” Bishop spoke again, the crowd falling silent, “I’m abolishing it. I’m killing you all.”

All chaos broke loose. The vampires who were not a part of the Unchained began to scatter, as the masked vampires opened fire on the crowd. The screams and shrieks of the fleeing vampires filled Agnes’s head, the feeling of their terror beginning to overtake her. Agnes remained concealed, watching as her friends and Adrian fought off the Unchained.

It was a bloody battle, Adrian ripping the Unchained apart with his bare hands. Lily mowed them down with a crossbow while Jax tore them to ribbons with his razor sharp sword. Kamilah moved as quick as lightning as she swirled through the battleground, her daggers striking the Unchained with impossible precision as they burst into ash around her. 

It seemed as though victory was within their grasp, until Bishop stepped in, heaving his battle ax above his head and down into Jax’s shoulder. Adrian, Lily, and Kamilah turned their focus to Bishop as Jax fell to his knees, wrenching the ax from his muscle. 

One by one, they leapt towards Bishop but he struck them each down with alarming ease. They fell to the ground, wounded and defeated. 

Despite the fear gripping her heart, Agnes couldn’t stand by and do nothing. She found a sharp rock on the ground and emerged from her hiding place.

“Agnes, no!’ Adrian shouted as he struggled to lift himself off the ground, as he saw her winding her arm back. 

“Hey, Bishop!” Agnes yelled, and as Bishop turned to face her, she threw the rock with all her vampire strength at the side of his head. 

But he was too quick. He caught the rock in his meaty hand before it struck him and he flung it back at her, striking her in the temple. Agnes’s vision flashed red as she fell to the ground at the impact, the pain throbbing and disorienting. As she rolled on the ground, trying to regain her bearings, she heard Bishop’s mocking laugh as his cronies cheered around him. 

Agnes felt herself overcome with rage, a murderous fire burning in the pit of her stomach. She dug her fingers into the soft ground as she slowly crawled forward, her teeth clenched as she stared at Bishop with unbridled hatred. 

The burn in her stomach began to spread through her body, coursing through her veins and filling her lungs. She would stop them. At any cost. She looked at Bishop as he looked on the fallen with derision and suddenly the burning heat left her body, replaced with a terrifying numbness.

One by one the Unchained fell to their knees, screaming in horror. They began to remove their masks, throwing them to the ground as they held their faces in their hands. Agnes’s jaw dropped at what she saw.

Blood was pouring from the eyes and mouths of the Unchained as they wailed and writhed on the ground. They spat blood as they begged for mercy, clutching their eyes as the blood continued to fall and pooled in their palms. Even Bishop began to thrash and scream as blood began to flow down from underneath his mask.

Adrian, Kamilah, Lily, and Jax watched the scene unfold with wide eyes, frozen with fear and bewilderment. A few of the Unchained who had been spared sprinted back to the leader, carrying him away as the afflicted Unchained crawled and scrambled away. 

Agnes remained prone on her stomach as she watched them flee, her hands still fisted in the dirt. Her muscles were coiled so tight she could barely move. Her eyes were unmoving as she stared at the puddles of blood glistening on the ground in the light of the lampposts. 

What had she done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Characters, plot, & dialogue are property of Pixelberry. I’m just having some fun.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> !!!MATURE CONTENT!!!
> 
> After making the Unchained bleed with her mind, Agnes struggles to tell the truth about her powers, afraid of what she might become.

Agnes and the others fled Central Park quickly, leaving a trail of blood behind them. Returning to their refuge in Adrian’s Raines Corp office, they all took a moment to recover from the devastating and unexpected attack.

Jax moved his shoulder carefully, wincing with each movement as he tried to clean the blood from his katana. Lily sat on the ground, her back against the wall, with her feet splayed before her. She was breathing heavily still, as she felt her tissue knitting themselves back together.

Even Adrian, the strongest among them, moved stiffly across the room as his ravaged muscles slowly healed. Next to him, Kamilah wiped the blood from her daggers, her eyes sharp and annoyed. 

Sitting quietly in the corner, Agnes couldn’t stop staring at her hands. There was not a drop of blood on them, but her hands were by no means clean. Her actions had changed the outcome of the battle, but she had no idea how or why it had happened. Agnes had even tried to convince herself that maybe she wasn’t the one who caused it, but that was a naive hope. She knew she it happened because she _willed_ it to happen. 

She had wanted Bishop and his cronies to suffer. She felt no compassion, no mercy for the vampires that were dooming themselves and the entire city along with them. Agnes had seen the look of pain on Jax’s face and the sound of howling laughter from across the lawn had set her rage on fire. There was no way for her to have known that the power of her fury was enough to draw blood from her enemies. No way for her to know what violence she was capable of.

Agnes closed her eyes and shook her head, clearing the image from her mind as she looked out across her slowly recuperating companions.

Jax heaved a defeated sigh, massaging his shoulder where Bishop’s ax had come down.

“God, I knew something was going to go wrong, I just . . . didn’t expect that,” he said, his jaw clenched tight.

_No one_ had been expecting that. They all exchanged meaningful looks across the room, but no one was quite sure what to say or think just yet.

Lily broke the silence with the question they were all asking themselves, “So, what the hell happened back there?” 

“They called themselves the Unchained,” Kamilah said as she sheathed her daggers with more force than necessary, “A bit pretentious if you ask me.”

“Their leader, Bishop, have any of you ever encountered him before?” Adrian asked, stepping into the center of the room, his eyes calculating and focused.

“I have,” Jax said regretfully. His stories of Bishop were disquieting, to say the least. Horror stories of draining the blood of voluntary humans and wreaking havoc upon the Shadow Den gave them a clear picture of their enemy, brutal and merciless. Their future had hardly seemed bright before the meeting, but now it was looking particularly grim.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll start bleeding from their orifices again,” Lily said, though even she struggled to muster a smile at her own joke.

Agnes’ heart began thundering in her ears, her hands balled into fists at her sides. Her eyes darted between her companions, panic gripping her heart as she tried to gauge their reaction. Agnes stood frozen on the spot, terrified of what they would say if they found out, or perhaps worse, what they would say if they didn’t. 

From what she could gather from their reactions at the park, what she had done was something none of them had ever seen before. And from the looks on their faces now, it didn’t seem like something any of them were eager to encounter again.

“I think we should be cautious,” Kamilah said, her voice cutting through the tension that had collected in the room, “While it might have been helpful to us back there, we don’t know who or what caused it. To do something like that without being seen . . . is a power we need to be careful of.”

Agnes’s stomach dropped, and she held back the trembling sigh that was certain to let loose a waterfall of tears. Whatever power had wrought such savagery upon them was beyond even Kamilah’s understanding. They couldn’t help her. 

“I think that’s wise,” Adrian agreed, and Agnes felt the sting of his words in her heart, “There is too much at stake here for us to go in unprepared.”

Within a few minutes, Jax, Kamilah, Adrian, and Lily were huddled over Adrian’s desk and had already started to formulate a plan of attack. 

For the first time ever, Agnes didn’t want to join them. She stayed back, lingering by the chair she had been sitting in before. A nervous energy ran through her veins like lightning and she couldn’t hold still. She paced in a small circle, only half listening as Lily and Kamilah prepared for a reconnaissance mission, while Jax and Adrian discussed possible strategies for infiltration. 

Lost in her own frantic thoughts, Agnes didn’t notice when Adrian suddenly stepped in front of her. Her body collided with his, and she jumped back in alarm. 

“Agnes?” Adrian said, his voice soft and gentle as his hands came to rest on her shoulders. She could only look at him for a moment, the concern in his stormy grey eyes stirring up tears in her own. If only he knew that she was what he needed to fear. 

“Adrian, I . . .”

She didn’t know how to finish her sentence, and could only look up at him helplessly. Adrian brought on hand up, cradling her face tenderly. 

“You don’t need to come with us,” he said, his voice little more than a whisper as he lowered his head to hers, “I know it can be overwhelming when you’re newly Turned, so if you aren’t feeling ready, I understand.”

From the look in his eyes, Agnes could tell that he half expected her to object, as she usually did. But not this night. 

“I think the park was too much,” she said, wincing as her voice broke, “It was a lot for me to . . .”

She trailed off, lowering her eyes to the ground. Adrian pressed a comforting kiss to her forehead. She closed her eyes and imagined, for a moment, that everything was alright.

____

Adrian had been worried for Agnes the entire night. Even before they arrived at the meeting in Central Park, Adrian’s thoughts were consumed with Agnes’ safety. Being a newly Turned vampire was a volatile transition, which she was unfortunately going through during a very volatile time. 

But now, as they walked through the front door of his penthouse, he could tell that more was bothering her than just sensory overload. Agnes was shaken, afraid. He had felt her trembling in his arms as he held her in his office, and he had hoped the returning to the safety of the penthouse would once again set her at ease. 

It was as if whatever had caused Agnes’s fear had followed them home. Her muscles remained tight and tense, her gaze wary and uncertain, and he could hear her heart beating heavily in her chest from across the room.

He felt like he was farther away from her than he ever had been before. She was completely withdrawn. It was rare that Agnes had a thought or opinion she didn’t share, so to see her like this immediately alerted Adrian to the fact that something was very wrong. 

Adrian took her hand and guided her to the couch. Her fingertips were icy cold and her grip on his hand was weak and trembling. It pained him to see her like this, so afraid and timorous. He had promised to protect her, no matter what, and fear gripped his own heart as he wondered what it was that made her feel like even he couldn’t keep her safe. 

Adrian lifted her face with a gentle finger tracing along the edge of her jaw. Her eyes remained downcast, but he felt her lean into his featherlight touch, craving his closeness and comfort. His heart broke as he saw her struggle to fight whatever she was trying to keep hidden and the desperate need to not be alone.

“You can tell me, my love. What are you afraid of?” Adrian asked, his gaze knowing but soft with compassion. Her eyes flicked up to his, bleary and red as she tried to hold back her tears. In them, he saw hesitation and something he wasn’t expecting. Repentance. Her honey brown eyes were begging him for forgiveness. 

“Please,” he said, unable to stop his brow from creasing in worry as he gently stroked her cheek, “Tell me. You don’t have to face this fear alone. I’m here.”

A choked sob escaped Agnes as tears escaped her eyes, looking up at him helplessly. 

“What if the thing I’m afraid of is me?” 

“What happened?” he asked. He knew the feeling, having lived in fear of his own brutality and violence, but he couldn’t fathom what Agnes had done that would make her so afraid of herself. Something awful had happened, and each moment he went without knowing was more agonizing than the last.

“It was me, Adrian,” she said, hanging her head in shame, “At the park, I was the one that made them . . . I made them bleed.”

Adrian sat in stunned silence. He gazed at her intently, eyes wide as his mind slowly tried to grasp what she had just told him. He was rather surprised to find that he wasn’t really surprised at all. He had never doubted that Agnes would be a vampire unlike any they had ever seen, with a power they may never understand.

Unlike her, Adrian felt no fear, though it wasn’t age or experience that set his mind at ease. He was not afraid because it was Agnes. He trusted her completely, having put his faith in her since the moment she asked to join his world. But what he could not stand was seeing Agnes punish herself so. He looked at her, heartbroken to see the pained expression on her face as she tried to reconcile herself with the blood she unwittingly spilled.

Agnes reluctantly lifted her head, tears falling unbidden, with a sorrow in her eyes that Adrian knew all too well. She hated herself. She couldn’t stand herself for what she had done. He had worn that same expression for decades, before she had come into his life and helped him see he was not the monster he always thought he was. She did not deserve to see herself this way, and he would do whatever he could to make sure she didn’t.

Unable to bear another moment without Agnes safely in his arms, Adrian pulled her into his embrace as she buried her face in the crook of his neck, her shoulders shaking as she tried to hold back her tears. 

“Thank you for telling me,” Adrian whispered, his lips close to her ear as he gently stroked her hair. She nestled into the protective circle of his arms, and he felt the tension leave her body in a rush. He smiled as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, feeling his own sense of relief. 

“I don’t know how I did it,” she said, her voice small, still reluctant to speak of what transpired, “I was just so mad. I was _furious_. I wanted them to suffer, for ruining everything, and it just . . . happened.”

Adrian was well acquainted with that feeling. His life had been dedicated to the infliction of pain and suffering, and to this day, he paid a heavy price. But she did not deserve to feel the guilt and shame that he had. He would not allow it.

“I’m sorry, Adrian,” Agnes said tearfully, “I can’t imagine what you must think of me now.”

“Agnes,” Adrian said, as he pulled back from their embrace to look at her fully, wanting her to understand the sincerity of his words, “Nothing could ever change how I feel about you.”

“Even if I become a monster?” she replied, her lower lip starting to tremble. 

Her words sent a shockwave of devastation through his body, and his breath caught in his throat. Adrian would not tolerate anyone calling his Agnes a monster or an abomination, including her. 

He pulled her back into his embrace, holding her tight as he fought back his own tears, “You could never be a monster. Agnes, you are everything that is good in the world . . . you’re the only good thing in this world.”

“I’m afraid, Adrian. I’m so afraid of myself, of what this is,” Agnes said, unable to suppress her sobs as she wept against his shoulder.

“I know, my love. But I’m not afraid of this, or of you. And when you need me to be brave for you, I will be there. I promise you will not face this alone.”

Time passed unaware as they clung to one another, finding solace in the safety in each other’s arms.

____

The knot of anxiety continued to twist in Agnes’ stomach as she watched Kamilah, Lily, Adrian, and Jax prepare for their infiltration of the Unchained’s headquarters, their heads in a tight circle as they huddled over Adrian’s desk. 

Adrian occasionally glanced back at Agnes, who stood at the window looking out over the ruined city, her eyes sorrowful and distant. He was going to fix all of this, of that much he was certain. For her. 

The plan was set: Lily would access the Unchained HQ through the front door, posing a member of the Unchained. She would let Jax, Kamilah, and Adrian through the back entrance, opening it from the inside. And then, they would restore order and save New York City.

“No biggie,” Lily said, trying to shrug off her anxiety.

“We are prepared, and they aren’t expecting a counter-attack,” Kamilah said confidently, “In this case, I do believe we have the upper-hand.”

“Yeah, but when does that ever work out for us?” Jax retorted. His nerves were running high, which had a tendency to make him a tad pessimistic.

“Not helpful, Jax,” Adrian said, with a small shake of his head. Jax rolled his eyes, but realizing that truth to Adrian’s words, refrained from another cutting reply.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Once again, the fate of New York City was in their hands. There wasn’t much to be said, and all knew what the other was thinking. They had to succeed. They could not fail. 

Fear clutched at Adrian’s heart as he realized this was the first time since he had known her, he would be going into battle without Agnes. He had faced many adversaries before, but he wasn’t sure he could be victorious without his greatest strength by his side. 

“Does the word “abaddon” mean anything to anyone?” Agnes’ voice broke through the silence. 

They all turned to look at her curiously, though Adrian gave her a brief, but knowing glance. 

“Abaddon has many meanings, most of them indicating chaos, doom, or death,” Kamilah replied, her brow quirked up curiously, “Why do you ask?”

Agnes hesitated a moment. In truth, she wasn’t exactly sure why she was asking. She had been standing, staring out the window, and a foreign thought began to infiltrate her mind. It felt like a memory but one she was not able recognize as one of her own. Before she could stop it, like a bullet ricocheting in her mind, all she could think was “abaddon.”

“I’m . . . not sure,” she said, reluctant to explain any further, glancing over at Adrian, “But I think you’ll need it.”

Kamilah, Lily, and Jax exchanged a perplexed look. Agnes felt self-conscious, shifting uncomfortably as her mind raced, afraid of what her friends must be thinking. 

Following a long, even exhale, Kamilah nodded, “Thank you for telling us, Agnes.”

Adrian walked over to Agnes and cradled her face in his hands, lowering his lips to hers for a longing and breathless kiss. She gripped the fabric of his suit jacket in her fists as she leaned into him. 

He would be back. They would all be back.

____

Time dragged as Agnes waited for them to return. She sat in Adrian’s chair behind his desk, staring at the clock, her limbs jittery and restless. She had to wonder if she had made a mistake by not joining them. Agnes wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, but she was wielding a weapon she had no idea how to use. It wasn’t that she was afraid to hurt her enemies, but she couldn’t bear it if harm came to someone she loved because she was reckless with these new powers. 

Agnes watching her friends, and her beloved, walk out the door to face their enemy felt wrong. She should’ve gone with them. She wasn’t afraid of Bishop or the Unchained, but her going would’ve been too dangerous. Not for her, but for them. She was protecting them by staying where she was. 

After what seemed like an eternity, Agnes heard footfalls outside the door to Adrian’s office. She stood up and darted across the office, flinging the door open to see Lily, Jax, Kamilah, and Adrian return from their battle. Their clothes were bloodied, though from what Agnes could tell, it didn’t seem like any of it was actually theirs. 

Her heart soared with relief and a smile broke out across her face to see them all standing before her. 

“Don’t look so relieved to see us alive,” Jax said with a smirk upon seeing her eyes widen as they walked into the office, “I thought you had a _little_ faith in us, Agnes.”

Agnes ran over and hugged Jax tightly, the blood on his leather jacket smearing on her clothes, “I’m so glad you’re all ok.”

Once settled back in Adrian’s office, Kamilah and Jax cleaned their blades while Adrian went to the armoire in his office and pulled out a fresh, crisp shirt. 

Kamilah sheathed her blades and turned her attention to Agnes.

“How did you know it was the password?” Kamilah asked. She did not need to say what she meant, and Agnes felt her blood run cold, as if she had been caught in the midst of committing a crime. 

“What was the password?” she asked, her voice tremulous as she tried to hide her guilt. It only took Adrian a moment to see the distress on Agnes’s face as Kamilah began her line of questioning, and he was by her side in a second.

“ _Abaddon._ ”

“Oh,” Agnes murmured as she hung her head. Adrian wrapped his arm around her shoulders comfortingly, squeezing them to reassure her that he would be by her side no matter what.

Taking a deep breath, Agnes braced herself.

“That night with the Unchained in Central Park,” she said, though her voice was low as she struggled to speak the words, “I was the one who . . . made them bleed like that.”

The room fell deafeningly quiet as they absorbed her words. Much to Agnes’ surprise, none of them recoiled in horror or even looked at her differently. Their eyes shone with sympathy and understanding, and she suddenly felt foolish for being afraid to be honest with them.

“I don’t know how I did it, but . . . it _was_ me,” Agnes continued, speaking more confidently, “And I don’t know how I knew about ‘abaddon.’ I was just standing there by the window and the word came into my head, and it was all I could hear. It seemed important. I didn’t know it was the password.”

Kamilah nodded pensively, “Thank you for telling us, Agnes. Vampire abilities can be . . . unpredictable at times. You are the first vampire Bloodkeeper, so it's hard for us to say what you may experience. It’s an unprecedented situation.”

Agnes felt her heart start to sink, her face falling as she realized that this may just be the beginning. It was bad enough that she had a violent ability to draw blood from her enemies with just a feeling, but the idea that there could be more was overwhelming. Her heart started to thunder in her ears, and Kamilah quickly took note of her distress.

“I don’t want you to be afraid, though,” Kamilah continued, her voice softening as she saw panic building behind Agnes’ eyes, “You may not know what to expect, but you do not have to face it alone. Tell us anything you experience, anything new or strange, and we can figure it out together.”

Adrian looked at Kamilah, his gaze conveying his deep gratitude to her. Under his arm, he felt Agnes’s shoulders begin to relax, slowly releasing the tension she had been holding for the last few nights. He lowered his head to murmur softly in her ear. 

“Let’s go home.”

____

“Do you feel better?” Adrian asked, once he and Agnes had settled on the couch in his penthouse, a blanket draped across their shoulders as she leaned into him. 

“A little,” she replied, “I’m happy that everyone knows and I don’t have to hide it, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still capable of these things. I . . . I feel like I’m becoming the thing we’ve been fighting against this whole time.”

“Agnes, you are nothing like them,” he reassured her, his arms around her waist tightening, drawing her body closer to his, “To see you so upset about harming another, even one you’d consider an enemy, tells me that you will never be like that. Whatever . . . powers you possess, I know you will use them for good.”

“But isn't that what they all think? What Gaius thought?” Agnes said miserably. He knew her struggle all too well. It was so much easier to blame yourself rather than forgive.

“I think I’m starting to understand what it is like to be around me all the time,” he muttered, and to his surprise, Agnes laughed. It was more of a small snort, and he leaned down to look at her face, there was indeed a smile. 

“Well, when you put it that way . . . ,” she said, stifling a giggle, “See how frustrating it can be!”

Adrian couldn’t help but laugh too. 

“Alright, alright. But if I’m not allowed to talk about myself like that, then neither can _you_ ,” he said, punctuating his statement with a fervent kiss. He would’ve been lying if he said he wasn’t also hoping he could silence her retort with his lips. 

“You did that to shut me up,” she said with a glare as he pulled away, planting small delicate kisses along her jaw. 

“Yes, I did,” he said as he smiled against the soft skin of her neck. Her scent was still utterly intoxicating to him, and his heart swelled every time he made her smile. Her body was soft and he began to lose himself in the headiness of her touch and smell. 

“Never leave me, Adrian.”

He lifted his head and looked deep into her eyes. Desperate and pleading, Agnes was not commanding him to stay, she was begging him not to leave her. He could still see the worry in her eyes, that the way Adrian saw her had changed. In a way it had, for he only loved her more. Adrian’s heart swelled in his chest as he took her in. 

“You say that like I ever could.”

They gazed at each other for only a moment, before Adrian’s mouth came crashing down on hers. His kiss was hot and hungry, unrelenting as he bit her lower lip, swallowing her gasp as his tongue explored her mouth. 

Heat began to spread deep in Agnes’ belly, a warm and pleasant ache that was becoming harder to ignore as Adrian’s attention moved from her lips, down along her jaw and neck. The feeling of his fangs pricking at the silken, sensitive skin on her neck sent delicious shivers down her spine as her hands found his hair. She grabbed a fistful of his tousled honey-brown locks, throwing her head back as his feverish kisses seared her skin, gasping in delight.

A satisfied groan escaped Adrian’s lips as she tangled her fingers in his air, gripping tighter, her body clinging to him as his lips and tongue teased along her collarbone. He had missed this. Tasting her, feeling the heat rising beneath her skin with every delicate and bruising touch, seeing her react to his teeth nipping at her skin was intoxicating. 

Grabbing her by her hips, possessive and needful, and he pulled Agnes onto his lap, her legs straddling him on either side. Adrian was struck with a breathtaking wonder as he gazed up at Agnes, her dark hair tumbling over her shoulders, her lips flushed and swollen from his urgent kisses. Her eyes were dark, burning with desire and it ignited an ardent, uncontrollable need deep within him. 

His hands roamed ravenously down her back as she lowered her head to capture his lips in a languid kiss. Her hips rolled steadily, the feeling of it at all once exhilarating and infuriating, and his head fell back in pleasure as she nipped along the sharp line of his jaw. 

Seeing him react beneath her, softly moaning as she tugged at his shirt and tie with a devilish smile on his face, sent Agnes into a frenzy. Pushing his crisp white oxford button down over his shoulders, feeling the firm muscles flexing beneath the softness and warmth of his perfect skin set her on fire. 

“ _Adrian_ ,” she whispered, her voice low and husky. She didn’t need to say anything else.

With a sinful look in his eyes, Adrian stood up from the couch, and she locked her legs around his waist. His lips found hers, passionate and possessive, as he carried her down the hall to the bedroom. 

Adrian and Agnes tumbled onto the bed, legs entwined and hands frantically pulling at clothes, desperate to see and feel more of each other. Agnes smiled deliciously as Adrian swiftly pulled her shirt from over her head, deftly unhooking the small clasps at her back so that she was bare from waist up. Adrian’s eyes shone with awe as he gazed upon her, his hands trembling as he traced his fingertips along her smooth curves, his lips following suit, reverent and loving. 

The heat between them was palpable, and even the small amount of clothing that remained on their bodies was too far a distance between them. Agnes reached down between them, her hands fumbling with his belt buckle. Adrian held Agnes’ chin in his hand, his grip unyielding as he held her place, devouring her mouth with hot, sensual kisses. 

“Adrian, _please_ ,” she whimpered desperately, her voice sweet with longing. Any control Adrian had vanished and he ripped the rest of her clothes off her body, discarding them on the floor as he began to consume her. 

“Oh, Adrian! _Yes!_ ”

Bewitched by her luscious body and blissful cries of pleasure, Adrian carried Agnes through the night on waves of ecstasy. When she could take no more, Adrian nestled Agnes against his body as they drifted, spent and sated, into a restful sleep.

____

Agnes woke with a start, her eyes flying open to the dark room around her. Adrian was fast asleep beside her, holding her tight against his chest. Everything seemed safe, normal. But something had called to her, something outside of herself. A feeling or a presence had infiltrated her from the outside, malicious and vengeful. 

It wasn’t a nightmare that woke Agnes that night.

Something evil was drawing near. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Characters, plot, & dialogue are property of Pixelberry. I’m just having some fun.**

**Author's Note:**

> **Characters, plot, & dialogue are property of Pixelberry. I’m just having some fun.**


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